In Eastern cultures and, increasingly, in Western cultures, individuals may frequently desire to assume the so called lotus position which provides a particular stress on the knee joints since it requires a crossing of the legs when they are bent beneath or close to the body of the individual.
If a joint for a prosthesis is to be able to withstand the folding of the legs to permit assumption of the lotus position, this joint must be able, in addition to permitting relative rotation of the upper and lower leg members connected by the joint, to withstand exceptionally high tilting forces. The joint which thus can connect the knee articulation to the upper leg, for example, must be constructed to withstand these very high tilting forces since these joints must bear the entire weight of the individual using the prosthesis.